Babri demolition: How India, Hindus and Muslims have changed in 25 years

India’s economy has changed but social conditions are ripe for resurgence of destructive tendencies

Business News India : The demolition of Babri Masjid and the deadly riots that followed remain a grim reminder in India’s history of volatile politics and the sway it has over the minds of people who are bent on the path of destruction in the name of religious resurrection.

A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since December 6, 1992, when scores of Hindutva foot soldiers, purportedly egged on by some who would later be the tallest Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders, went on the rampage to demolish a medieval mosque built by India’s first Mughal emperor, allegedly after dismembering an ancient Hindu temple built in the name of Ram.

In many ways, India was at an economic cross-roads. The per-capita income of Indians was barely ~16,000 (or $245 at current exchange rates) in 1990. When the Babri mosque was pulled down, it fell even further. Added to this abysmal per-capita income was the high inflation rate. In the year the Babri mosque was demolished, the consumer inflation in India touched 14 per cent — a record high in many years.

A year before the demolition, inflation was still at a debilitating 9 per cent. Unemployment levels (data for which in India are highly dubious) stood at 4 per cent. For many Indians, who were just about making ~1,300 (or $20) a month on an average, the economy wasn’t something they could look up to for redemption.

By 1991, 18-year-olds were staring at a future where their incomes and standard of life would be no better than their parents. In 1973, when these young people were born, the per-capita income in India was around ~11,000 ($169 at current rates). From the time they were born to the time they became major, the average earning prospects of Indians rose by a pittance.

At the rates of inflation prevailing in the run-up to the Babri mosque demolition, this unimpressive rise in income would have been negated in just about three years. In effect, a vast majority of India’s population would have been at the same income levels of their parents, maybe even worse.

Click to Read → Babri Demolition 25 Years

Babri demolition, 25 years on: BJP’s transition from Ram to reform to Ram

BJP’s political narrative has been re-defined after 2014, with a new Hindutva mascot

 

Latest News : The year was 1989. The first general election in which the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) manifesto explicitly talked about reconstructing the Ram temple in Ayodhya. “By not allowing the rebuilding of the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya, on the lines of Somnath Mandir built by the Government of India in 1948, it has allowed tensions to rise, and gravely strained social harmony,” the party’s manifesto that year stated.

The year 1989 was in many ways the BJP’s chance at redemption after its predecessor Bharatiya Jana Sangh got its first shot of power along with its socialist allies after Emergency. In 1984, the party had managed to win just two seats in the parliamentary elections. The Congress, riding high on a sympathy wave following Indira Gandhi’s assassination, swept the country by winning 404 out of the 533 seats.

So, BJP’s redemption song in 1989 was going to be the Ram Mandir. With mandir on its mind, the BJP won 85 seats, and so began the party’s push for a Ram temple in Ayodhya, with none other than L K Advani leading the charge with his Rath Yatra.

The VP Singh-led National Front government that tried to throw a spanner in Advani’s Rath Yatra was derailed after the BJP withdrew support following Advani’s arrest at Samastipur in Bihar while galvanising foot soldiers for the Ram temple in Ayodhya.

The BJP’s egression from the National Front government set the stage for yet another election in 1991. The 1991 elections, widely dubbed as the Mandir vs Mandal elections, was perhaps when the Ram temple pitch in the BJP reached a crescendo.

Yes, 1989 was the year when Mandir found a mention in BJP’s manifesto for the first time. But its decibel still hadn’t reached the feverish pitch that came in 1991. The BJP’s electoral push was largely powered by the ammunition it had against the then prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi.

Click to Read → Babri Demolition 25 years

Vasco Da Gama-Patna express accident leaves 3 dead: All we know so far

At least three people were dead and nine left injured after thirteen coaches of the Vasco Da Gama-Patna express jumped the rails

Breaking News : The Indian Railways and the common Indian commuter have been hit by another accident after thirteen coaches of the Vasco Da Gama-Patna express jumped the rails near Manikpur railway station in Uttar Pradesh on Friday.

At the time of publishing, no comments or details had come from the Ministry of Railways or Railways Minister Piyush Goyal’s twitter handles.

Here’s all we know about the accident so far:

1) At least three people were dead and nine left injured after thirteen coaches of the Vasco Da Gama-Patna express jumped the rails.

2) Confirming the casualties, Chitrakoot SP Pratap Gopendra Singh said a father-son duo from Bettiah district of Bihar died on the spot while the third person died at a hospital.

3) “Of those injured, two were serious and admitted to district hospital, Chitrakoot. Seven with minor injuries are being treated at Manikpur,” Singh said.

4) According to news agency ANI, Indian Railways PRO Anil Saxena said that helpline numbers have been set up and that rescue and relief operations are underway.

5) The Patna-bound Vasco Da Gama Express (12741) derailed at 4:18 am, soon after leaving platform number 2 of the Manikpur railway station in Chitrakoot district, about 250 km from Lucknow, he said.

6) According to ADG (Law and Order), Anand Kumar, prima facie it appears that fractured railway track is the cause of the accident as per local assessment.

Click to Read → Vasco da Gama Patna Express Accident

NTPC blast toll reaches 29, families of victims look for bodies and answers

The Centre orders a probe by NTPC's executive director; the state announces a magisterial probe

 

 

Hamidullah Khan (41) is one of the five brothers who fell victim to the massive NTPC explosion that happened at the 500-Mw newly commissioned unit at NTPC’s Unchahar plant. Of the five, three have died and two are critically injured. Hamidullah has left four kids and no earning member.

His family, along with a politician from Chhattisgarh, was in argument with NTPC executives and UP government officials over the ambulance that will ferry the three bodies.

There are also murmurs of overwork, extra shift hours, lack of manpower, etc. Some even blame the Centre for pushing the public sector undertaking to achieve targets like adding a 500-Mw unit at Unchahar.

With outrage on the part of workers building up on Wednesday, some labour directorate officials from Rae Bareli were trying to pacify labourers by apprising them of the compensation that will come from the Centre, the UP government, and NTPC.

Till 7 pm on Thursday, the death count had reached 29 and the number of the injured was 80. The NTPC township looks eerily calm. The residential quarters are buzzing with usual action.
It was the guest house where politicians and the families of victims were pouring in, exhibiting nervous energy and having tense arguments. In a 20-foot 'control room’, the casualties were being counted and updated every minute.

At NTPC level, three of its heads of departments — those of operations, ash handling, and border maintenance — were injured. The head of operations, Sanjiv Sharma, succumbed to injuries later in the evening.

Click here to Know → NTPC Blast

From Mahant to Uttar Pradesh CM: Here's Yogi Adityanath's road to power

Adityanath is a familiar face in national politics due to his communal remarks from time to time 

Latest News -  The appointment of Yogi Adityanath as the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh has come as a surprise to political observers. During the UP campaign, Narendra Modi, who was the main campaigner, largely concentrated on the agenda of development or vikas. This was true despite his attempts, halfway through the election, to consolidate the Hindu vote through the use of communal speeches and words.

 

Nor was there any major communal incident or riot, as happened prior to the 2014 national elections. It is now clear that even if the BJP attempts to bring in development in UP as promised, the path to winning the 2019 elections will be through communal polarisation.

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 Why Adityanath?

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Adityanath is a familiar face in national politics due to his communal remarks from time to time, the latest being prior to the voting in western UP in an attempt to gain the Hindu and particularly the OBC vote in the face of Jat opposition. Born Ajay Singh (June 5, 1972), a Rajput from Uttarakhand, he holds a university degree and has been the MP from the Gorakhpur Lok Sabha constituency five times since 1998, including most recently in 2014.

 

He was appointed mahant on September 14, 2014, after the death of his guru, Mahant Avaidyanath. The Gorakhnath Math has been involved in political matters for decades, but Adityanath has made Poorvanchal his Hindutva laboratory since the late 1990s.(read more...)

Ram Mandir-Babri Masjid issue: The history behind the dispute (All you need to know)

The first recorded incident of violence over the holy site took place in 1853 

The Babri mosque dates back nearly 500 years when it was built in Ayodhya by Mir Baqi, a commander of the first Mughal emperor Babur, in 1528. Hence the mosque's name, Babri Masjid.

Here is the timeline to the Ayodhya dispute:

1853: The first recorded incident of violence over the holy site takes place during the reign of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh. Nirmohis, a Hindu sect, claim that a Hindu temple had been destroyed during Babur's times to build the mosque.

1859: The British colonial administration erects a fence at the site to separate the places of worship. While the Muslims are allowed to use the inner court, the Hindus are allowed the outer court.

1885: In January 1885, Mahant Raghubir Das files the first case, seeking permission to build a canopy on the Ramchabutra (a raised platform) outside the mosque. The plea is rejected by the Faizabad district court.

1949: Lord Ram's idols appear inside the mosque, allegedly placed by Hindu groups. Both sides file suits; the government declares the area as disputed and locks the gates to the premise.

1950: Gopal Singh Visharad and Mahant Paramhans Ramchandra Das file suits at the Faizabad court seeking permission to offer prayers to the idols in the janamsthan. While the inner courtyard remains locked, prayers are allowed.

1959: The Nirmohi Akhara files a third suit seeking possession of the site and claiming to be the custodians of the Ram Janmabhoomi.

1961: The Sunni Central Board of Waqf files a case against the placing of idols inside the mosque and claim that the mosque and surrounding land was a graveyard. (read more...)

Yadav vs Yadav: Samajwadi Party is shooting itself in the foot

The Samajwadi Party might like to call itself socialist but it has never shied away from family rule. The last time SP was in power,  Mulayam Singh’s brother Shivpal, his cousin Ramgopal, nephew Dharmendra and son Akhilesh were the moving figures behind the administration in Lucknow. Shivpal was the PWD minister but wielded enormous clout in the government and was responsible for recruitment in the state’s police force for allegedly pecuniary benefits. 

In fact one of the reasons the police force in UP is considered ineffective is the probe Mayawati ordered after she came to power in 2007, sacking thousands of policemen who were appointed by the Mulayam Singh government and replacing them with appointees of her own. The transition weakened the effectiveness of the police force.

After SP lost power, it set out to clean up its stables. Party General Secretary Amar Singh left. Muslim pedagogue Azam Khan returned. And in 2009, Mulayam Singh appointed Akhilesh president of the SP.

Because of the power he had wielded, a large number of party leaders had cast their lot with Shivpal. Now Akhilesh began whittling his uncle’s sphere of influence. Observers got the first indication of discord in December 2011 over the induction of Hasanuddin Siddiqui. Siddiqui was Shivpal’s contribution to SP, thought as a great coup because he is the brother of read more..

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Rahul Gandhi to continue 'Khat Sabha' in Gorakhpur today

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi will continue with his "Khat Sabha" campaign on Wednesday to woo farmers of Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh.

Gandhi will also undertake door to door campaign and road shows to interact with the farmers in the run up to the UP Assembly polls.

On Tuesday, Gandhi reached Rudrapur via chopper and launched the party's door-to-door campaign.

He began his 2500 km-long 'Kisan Yatra' as an effort to reach out to the people of Uttar Pradesh.

He reached out to the farming community while cornering the Centre and Samajwadi Party Government for not addressing their concerns despite making tall claims.

"Day1 of the Kisan Yatra ends in Gorakhpur. Tremendous energy & support from the people throughout the journey today.Looking fwd to tomorrow!," Rahul said in a tweet.

The Congress vice-president had earlier said his yatra is aimed at helping the poor, farmers and labourers secure their read more..